Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) When the Minnesota Legislature convenes for its 2021 regular session Tuesday, it won’t look like a normal session. The House will meet entirely via Zoom until further notice because of the pandemic. The Senate will try a hybrid approach. And the Capitol will remain surrounded by riot fencing.
That’s going to make it a challenge for lawmakers to interact with each other, their constituents and the advocates for a myriad of causes who normally would rally under the Capitol rotunda or fan out through the halls and hearing rooms. With the Capitol complex mostly closed to the public, phone calls, emails and online meetings will replace most of the traditional face-to-face work. And that’s going to make it harder for citizens and even well-connected lobbyists to be heard.
Virus forces changes as Minnesota Legislature opens Tuesday elpasoinc.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from elpasoinc.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Food shelves and meal programs across Minnesota fear a COVID-triggered hunger crisis will remain at record levels through 2021 a new normal of need. But the state appears to have flattened the hunger curve, avoiding bleak forecasts from earlier this year.
New data show food shelves are on pace to end 2020 with a record 3.75 million visits nearly 1.5 million more than in 2008 during the recession, according to Hunger Solutions, a statewide advocacy group. The number of visitors to food shelves during the Great Recession doubled and never bounced back to prerecession levels, so nonprofits now worry about sustaining the food needed for the higher demand far into 2021, even if the virus threat ends.